Shaws Cove, WA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 2.5 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Lead was measured in sampled homes but the 90th percentile is under both action levels. EPA's health goal for lead is zero, so test your own tap if your home was built before 1986 or anyone in it is pregnant or a young child.
Shaws Cove at a glance
Shaws Cove serves about 217 people through 82 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Pierce County, Washington. EPA system ID: WA5377960. Ask the utility on your bill for your address in their service line inventory.
Lead results over time
That is down 1.5 ppb from 4 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Shaws Cove is 4 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 2.5 ppb |
| 2020 | 4 ppb |
| 2017 | 2 ppb |
Against other Washington systems
Of the 2,218 Washington systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 18 are over 15 ppb right now and 62 have gone over at some point. Shaws Cove's 2.5 ppb sits at the 76th percentile in Washington and the 77th nationally (higher means more lead).
Neighbouring systems
226 other systems share Pierce County; 65 of them have a higher latest lead result than Shaws Cove. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Tacoma Water Division City Of | 446,245 | 0 (not detected) |
| Puyallup City Of | 94,520 | 2.7 ppb |
| Lakewood Water District | 82,425 | 1.1 ppb |
| Southwood | 64,155 | 1.6 ppb |
| Bonney Lake Water Department City | 43,371 | 2.4 ppb |
| Firgrove Mutual Inc | 36,168 | 2.9 ppb |
| Jblm Lewis | 35,414 | 0 (not detected) |
| Spanaway Water Company | 34,506 | 2.4 ppb |
| Parkland Light & Water Company | 33,775 | 2.4 ppb |
| Fife Dept Of Public Works | 29,091 | 2 ppb |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Tacoma, WA may offer free or low-cost kits through the utility. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Shaws Cove whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. What a 90th-percentile result does and does not tell you: how to read a lead result. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.